We may not be able to spend our summer vacation withJennifer Lawrencelike Amy Schumer did, but this December, we are getting something just as good: Lawrence’s latest collaboration with David O. Russell,Joy, which bows in theaters on Christmas. (Thanks, Santa!) And in a new interview, the Oscar winner tells us what to expect, and the torturous circumstances she endured for the sake of art.

The film centers on Lawrence’s eponymous character (an amalgamation of Miracle Mop inventor Joy Mangano and several other female entrepreneurs), from childhood to middle age, as she gets married, starts a family, and embarks on various entrepreneurial endeavors. Russell and Lawrence filmed the sprawling drama in Boston last winter, and the actress assures us that the climate conditions—which included eight feet of snow at one point—were not pleasant.

“I still have Snowst Traumatic Stress,” Lawrence jokes to Entertainment Weekly. “I feel like I’m in Game of Thrones, running around going, ‘Winter is coming again!’”

Weather is not the only extreme aspect of filming a David O. Russell movie, however, as Lawrence learned on the pair’s previous collaborations, Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle. “It’s fascinating and terrifying working for [Russell] because he’s a mad scientist genius,” explains Lawrence. “He’s inspired by anything. One time he wrote a scene by watching me get my hair done. He just went, ‘Oh! The sound of a shovel in the ground. Sinister!’ And then he ran out of the room.”

The director is so energetic on set that Lawrence finds herself dispensing advice to overwhelmed newbies: “I always see the wide eyes of people who’ve never worked with him before. I tell them, ‘You have to let go of all your s—t. You are the paint. He’s the paintbrush and the canvas.” She continues, “Everything moves so fast. It’s like watching someone do a giant abstract painting or sculpture and you go, ‘Where is this going?’ And then all of a sudden you’re like, ‘Oh, it’s a pegasus. It’s beautiful!’”

Lawrence had previously said that she learned of the role via a four A.M. text message from the filmmaker. But in the new interview, Lawrence clarifies that she actually received a call from Russell. “I’ve gotten a lot of middle-of-the-night phone calls from David,” she laughs.